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Christopher Golden has spent almost half of his life traveling to Madagascar. When he was 16, he went on an Earthwatch Expedition, Carnivores in Madagascar, led by Dr. Luke Dollar. Christopher’s experience directed him into a career in ecology and epidemiology. He’s now a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Director of the HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) Program at Wildlife Conservation Society. Recently, he has become a 2014 Emerging Explorer with the National Geographic Society.

Earthwatch scientist Demian Chapman has researched sharks off the coast of Belize for two decades. He has seen these animals, which fascinated him since his childhood in New Zealand, get destroyed by the lucrative trade in shark fins, a delicacy in some Asian countries. But soon these share populations could rebound, thanks in part to his work. Armed with creativity and expertise, Dr. Chapman fought a hard battle get five shark species protected under CITES—the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species—which has more than 160 member countries.

Bush Blitz is Australia’s largest nature discovery project, documenting plants and animals throughout the continent. In its fourth year, Bush Blitz has already discovered a new genus of a racing stripe spider, a possible new species of rainbow fish, a wolf spider, and the first new record of butterfly in Western Australia in a decade.

Many citizen science programs exist across the world, but often they do not interact with each other. This lack of communication has inspired two marine monitoring programs – Newcastle University’s Big Sea Survey in the U.K. and Earthwatch’s ClimateWatch program in Australia – to join forces and create Oceans Connected.

Six enthusiastic citizen scientists returned from a trip to Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef in June. The Earthwatch research team was involved in diving and snorkelling to photograph individual manta rays for identification as part of Project Manta. This trip identified 28 mantas, along with 3 possible new individuals, which will now be documented as part of the Manta Identification Database.

If you need that cup of coffee to get going in the morning, you’re not alone. According to a 2013 survey by the National Coffee Association, 83 percent of people in the U.S.—the world’s leader in coffee consumption—drink coffee, and 63 percent of Americans have at least a cup a day.

We are excited to announce the first three of nine new expeditions that kick off in 2015. Join us to study and explore the coral reefs of the Cayman Islands, the desert of Joshua Tree National Park in California, or the oceans of South Africa. Get up close to sharks, tropical fish, and desert lizards, and help protect the fragile landscapes that all these species call home.

Palm oil, which comes from the fruit of oil palm trees, shows up on nearly every supermarket shelf. It’s also one of the main reasons for massive rainforest destruction in some of the most wildlife-rich places on Earth. At the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) on May 15th, Earthwatch sponsored an expert panel discussion to address how we can conserve rainforests as the demand for palm oil booms.

The Citizen Science Network Australia (CSNA) has recently been developed to bring together researchers, educators, businesses, science communicators, government officials, community groups, and volunteers to connect and support the growth of citizen science in Australia. Dr. Chris Gillies, Earthwatch Australia's director of science, says that this is the most recent phase of a long tradition.